THE PORT OF LIVERPOOL 189 



minded people of Boston have more than once shown 

 that they know well the times and the seasons — 

 when, with stout hearts, to throw the tea overboard, 

 and when, with strong arms and good will, to set the 

 icebound Britisher free. 



The first voyage of the Britannia from Liverpool to 

 Boston, in 1840, was estimated to occupy fourteen 

 and a half days, which may be taken approximately 

 as the time likely to be required for a voyage to New 

 York. In the early fifties the passage of the Cunard 

 Company's boats from Liverpool to New York was 

 twelve days and one hour. In a Parliamentary 

 return, No. 184, of 1895, will be found records of 

 voyages from Queenstown performed by the Cunard 

 mail-steamers well within six days, some even within 

 five and a half days. 



For a time, about 1860, the department tried the 

 plan of sorting at sea the American mails to and 

 from Liverpool. The father of the service was the 

 late Mr. George Nash, a cheerful, energetic official 

 whom I remember very well. He lost his life in the 

 wreck of the Hungarian on the rocky coast of Prince 

 Edward Island. 



The Americans, very justly, regarded the estab- 

 lishment of the British Marine Postal Service as a 

 wonderful undertaking. In fact, we were for many 

 years ahead of the United States in peripatetic 

 sortation. 



That great country, with all her facilities — ex- 

 tensive railway system, vast waterways, magnificent 



